Practical disability advocacy, in plain language.
THINK+change Podcasts is an education series about intellectual and developmental disabilities, built around advocates, families, clinicians, and policy voices. Its episodes translate complex systems into plain next steps, from school safety plans to community living oversight.
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THINK+change Podcasts is an education and advocacy series focused on intellectual and developmental disabilities. Its center of gravity is practical access. The show looks at how people with disabilities, families, advocates, schools, service providers, and public agencies handle the systems that shape everyday life. Episodes often begin with a defined issue, then move into a grounded conversation with someone close to the work. Neurodiversity is discussed through lived experience, with attention to labels, support needs, work, prompts, and independence. Community living safety becomes a policy conversation about reporting problems, host home transparency, inspections, and consumer choice. School safety is treated as a planning problem, where lockdown procedures, classroom space, equipment, aides, door mechanisms, and sensory needs all matter. Family episodes slow down the first stretch after a new diagnosis, especially the flood of reports, acronyms, therapies, mourning, relief, and resource decisions. The show also preserves disability history and civic power. Its story on the Gang of 19 connects protest, accessible transportation, public testimony, and the right to be present in government decisions. Law enforcement episodes foreground the risk of invisible disabilities being mistaken for defiance, especially for autistic children. The series can handle difficult material without sensationalizing it. A conversation about people with IDD and problematic sexual behavior focuses on treatment, risk assessment, justice involvement, and wraparound clinical support. The tone is warm but not soft. Guests are given room to explain what actually happens in schools, homes, agencies, hearings, and families. Petrie Brill’s recurring presence gives many episodes a consistent advocacy frame. The show is especially useful for listeners who need vocabulary, context, and next steps rather than inspiration alone. It is local in many references, particularly around Aurora and Colorado organizations, but the questions travel well. At its best, THINK+change Podcasts makes disability systems feel less hidden and more discussable.
Made for: Designed for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their families, advocates, educators, clinicians, and service professionals. It also serves policy-minded listeners who want disability issues explained through lived experience and community practice.
What sets it apart: The series combines training, advocacy, and local systems knowledge without flattening disability into slogans. It is strongest when translating real situations into concrete supports, questions, and resources.
THINK+change offers TALKS, TRAININGS, and TOOLS designed to support training and education about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) for them, their families, and the professionals in their lives. THINK+change TALKS are provocative, in-person or video shorts on topics of interest to, or emerging issues for, people with I/DD and those who care for and work with them. THINK+change TRAININGS are in-person or online targeted educational opportunities on issues that directly impact people with I/DD and those who care for and work with them. THINK+change TOOLS are tangible educational products. For more information, check us out at www.thinkchange.training
The lockdown corner has to fit the aide, too; suddenly your school safety questions get sharper.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Brian B brings neurodiversity down to earth through labels, support, and lived experience.
Neurodiversity is treated here as a practical question: what does the term mean once it meets the daily experience of an autistic person? Petrie Brill, an advocate with the ARC of Aurora, leads Brian B through a steady conversation about autism, work, and how people get…
A clear, grounded look at how host-home transparency and targeted review could strengthen community living safety.
Community living safety for people with IDD is treated here as a systems question: who gets called when something goes wrong, how host homes are tracked, and which homes should get closer review.
A disability community story connects protest, testimony, and home support to the power of being heard.
A disability community story traces how public protest can turn everyday barriers into political power. It starts with the Gang of 19, wheelchair users who chained themselves to buses at Colfax and Broadway on July 5, 1978, then widens into a larger argument about the right of…
A grounded conversation on making school safety plans work for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
School safety for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities is treated here as a matter of practical design, not abstract concern.
A humane episode about turning a new IDD diagnosis into manageable next steps.
A new IDD diagnosis can land as both relief and disruption, and this episode holds that tension without turning care into a checklist. Petrie Brill talks with Lauren Mowry, a clinical social worker in developmental pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Colorado, about unfamiliar…
Jonquilyn Hill chases one listener question per episode to the experts who can answer it.
Hard conversations, patiently held, with room to laugh.
Care, culture, and the choices shaping Black women's lives.
An interview with autistic advocate Brian B.
Petrie Brill interviews Jack Johnson from Disability Law Colorado about safety in community living options for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
A discussion about disability community activism, focusing on the Gang of 19 protest and the importance of policy and power in disability rights.
An advocate and a school safety consultant discuss school safety for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
A discussion with Lauren Mowry, a clinical social worker at Children's Hospital Colorado, about supporting families with children newly diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Marilyn Fawcett's son received an FASD diagnosis at age 23 after multiple professionals missed prenatal alcohol exposure as the explanation for his difficulties.
A mother shares her experiences with law enforcement interactions involving her autistic sons, highlighting the need for understanding and de-escalation techniques.
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A host interviews a mother about how to advocate for a child with intellectual or developmental disabilities, sharing personal experience and resources.
A person with developmental disabilities shares personal struggles finding affordable, safe housing and calls for more support.
Erica Dessen introduces two managers from Colorado's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation who discuss their roles in helping youth with developmental disabilities transition to employment.